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Sunday, 11 December 2011

MAKING ORIGINAL CENDOL!

Cendol has always been one of my favourite desserts here. It originated from Indonesia and the word ' jendol ' in Javanese means 'bulge' or 'bump' which refers to the green wormy bulgy like jello!
This dessert exists in South East Asia including Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and of course Indonesia.

The Singapore and Malaysian versions have red beans in it. Don't ever mention that to any Indonesian as it is a sin to put red beans. The Teochew people did that! I prefer the original Indonesian version with no red beans. You can keep your beans.

How to Make Es Cendol Part 1

Cendol Recipe :-

30 pandan leaves, roughly chopped (aka screwpine leaves)

100 gm green bean flour

1/2 tsp alkaline water

1/2 tsp salt

3 tbsp sugar

650 ml water

Method:-

Put chopped leaves, water and whiz in a blender. Strain to get 625ml to 650ml of pandan juice.

Combine pandan juice and green pea flour in a mixing bowl. Stir well

to mix before passing through a sieve.

Add salt and sugar.

Add alkaline water to the flour mixture and set aside for 1/2 hour.

Cook the mixture over medium heat, stirring until batter thickens and

turns to a translucent green.

Fill a basin with ice and cold water. Set chendol mould over it.

Remove cooked batter from heat.Spoon out a lump onto the chendol mould (metal sheet with holes).

Use a pastry cutter and push the batter through the holes and let the

chendol form in the ice water. Repeat till all batter is used up.

Drain chendol from ice water and use.

Part 2

Making/ Squeezing Coconut for Milk:-

1 Whole coconut grated

500 ml filtered water

2 pieces pandan leaves (knotted)

a pinch of salt

Mix water to the grated coconut and mix by hand.

Squeeze over a sieve to extract as much milk as possible.

Pour milk into a pot and add a pinch of salt and the 2 pandan leaves.

Simmer in LOW heat till the milk is warmed through.

Remove from heat and set aside.

Part 3

Gula Jawa/ Gula Melaka:-

2 to 3 blocks of gula jawa

a pinch of salt

2 pieces of pandan leaves (knotted)

1 cup of water

2 tbsp of white sugar

Place all the ingredients in a small pot and let it simmer until all the gula jawa has dissolved. Remove from heat.

Assembly

In a nice glass, layer the gula jawa first, then the chendol and finally the coconut milk. Add crushed ice. Serve.

NOTE: There are no red beans in the original form of Es Cendol from Indonesia. You can sometimes add jack fruit slices if you want.